And the character of a nation corresponds directly to its popular heroes, its personality gauged like that of an inmate under psychiatric observation. Given this admittedly simplistic theory, there can be only one conclusion as to what values America now embodies and what form our national spokesperson takes: a snot-nosed yuppie with a big freakin' chip on his shoulder. Forget the "aw, shucks ma'am, it was nothing" archetype. He is now a boisterous, text-messaging fathead in a sports bar, his rosacea flaring at any mention of the word "turban". And though he is not without experience and has ambition galore, his open-up-a-can-of-whup-ass temperament trumps any wisdom and humility he might have picked up along the way to where he is now.

...

Just as some here paint all the French as 'surrender monkeys', a lot of people around the world look at all Americans as obnoxious bullies. As a person who enjoys traveling the world, this is quite troubling ...

As I've said a million times here, I don't give a shit who, what, or how you worship, as long as you don't proselytize to me and don't try to make your beliefs government policy. I don't believe in God, at least not in the form of some guy sitting up there, keeping score of whether I'm fucking around on my wife or kicking my dog (I don't, in either case, but I only think it counts to hypocritical guys in funny hats and dresses).

Conservative Christians are criticizing a plan by Public Broadcasting Service stations to begin showing later this week a three-part television documentary series on atheism, calling it "demagogic and propagandistic."

...

Janice Crouse, director of the Beverly LaHaye Institute for the conservative group Concerned Women for America, told Cybercast News Service that "airing the program gives credibility and cohesiveness to individuals who seek to undermine the beliefs and values on which democracy and the American dream are founded."

...

Let me say, I'll put my 'atheistic' values up against those of any 'Conservative Christian' any day. I'm willing to bet large amounts that in practice, I'm far more moral, tolerant (okay, so maybe there could be an argument in this case), and compassionate. In other words, Jesus would probably like me more than them.

Sorry folks, if your religion is so strong and you're so convinced of its 'rightness', a single TV show shouldn't do your cause any harm. I get the feeling though, that most Americans would probably see God more the way I do than the Jesus freaks do.

I don't want to undermine anyone's religion. If worshipping your god gives you peace, more power to ya. My family on both sides is devoutly Roman Catholic (two of my aunts are missionaries; nuns in Brazil), and I know some of the good works the Catholic Church has done (the town that is my ancestral home in Germany could not have been rebuilt after WW2 without the partnership between my grandfather, who was the mayor at the time, and the local church), but part of being tolerant is allowing others their own peace.

I've been called 'the Devil on Earth', a 'heathen', an 'infidel', and a whole host of names by people who were supposedly 'godly', let alone how the American Conservative Christians have painted all 'non-believers' over the years which, I think, has done more to undermine their religion than anything a buncha atheists could do to an institution 2000 years old.

And, as I said, this is still America. If the Congress can invoke the Lord before their sessions, I have the right not to.

... Nancy Reagan must have loved the sight of all ten of these creepy old men fucking her husband's skull, passing it around to each other to see who could fuck that skull harder. Of course, it was far better than Reagan's skull deserved ...

Friday, May 4, 2007

Me 'n Mrs. G really like our music, as regular Brainiacs will know. We collected records and albums independently for 15 years and then combined our collections 33 years ago and have added LPs, 8-tracks, cassettes, and CDs ever since. We also have quite a few 45s and some reel-to-reel stuff too.

A while back, I got a Hammacher-Schlemmer catalog from the catalog department at the Post Office, aka 'wastebasket'. Mrs. G spotted a turntable that would download into the computer from vinyl and from thence we could make CDs. We had never heard of such a thing before. Since it looks like CDs are going to be around for a while, and since we have many, many LPs that are never ever going to come out on CD, she wanted one. They also had a setup that puts the vinyl in the top and the CD in the bottom and records direct, but Mrs. G has a plan to build another component system like we had years ago, so she went this route. The one in the catalog didn't have much info, so rather than buy a pig in a poke, I put out a cry for help in the Brain. There's a lot of knowledge out there, and a beautiful willingness to take a few moments to share.

You guys came through like the Champions you are! I put Mrs. G on the scent from your input and told her to pick out the one she wanted. Like I had to tell her that!

She opted for the Audio-Technica AT-PL120S. I ordered it today. In a 'perfect storm' of serendipity, the thing was marked down from $279.00 to $178.97, and offered free shipping today only, which would have been $21.00. When I ordered it, I was offered another $30 off if I'd get an Amazon.com credit card, for which I was approved in the time it took to go get a coffee refill. From the kitchen, not at Fourbucks.

I had assumed the turntable was marked down because it was an older model, as that's quite common in our rapidly advancing world of technology, although when I went to the A-T site I was informed that this model is "Not available in your world area and/or language." Hmmm. Makes ya wonder, but these days instructions come in about ten languages, so I'm not worried about that. Yes, when I get something new my feminine side comes out and I read the directions.

Anyway, the thing's on the way, and at half price too! Win-win!

I can't wait to blare my music at top volume out of the pickup! The world will love "Da Yoopers" any my vast collection of steam calliope music! The kids down the block are gonna effin' pay for rattlin' my windows...

Thank you guys for your help.

But you're not getting off that easy! Now I need a machine that can record DVDs off of videotapes. I got a sneakin' hunch I better not ask for one that makes DVDs from my old Super-8 home movies...

Suggestions are welcome. Keep 'em clean. Well, on second thought...go for original and funny!

Listening to Deputy Attorney General James Comey explain how fired prosecutors had been "smeared," is described on NPR as "like watching him calmly, quietly slide a knife between Attorney General Gonzales' ribs and twist," as Murray Waas reports that the number two official at the DOJ may face obstruction of justice charges.

I like the 'knife in the ribs' part, but he shoulda used a bayonet. Easier to get out. Just pull the trigger.

t looks like it's official: the United States Army thinks that American reporters are a threat to national security. Thanks to some great sleuthing by Wired's "Danger Room" blogger Noah Shachtman, the Army's new operational security guidelines (OPSEC) hit the Web in a big way yesterday, and the implications they have for reporters -- who are grouped in with drug cartels and Al Qaeda as security threats to be beaten back -- are staggering.

Shachtman reproduces a slide from the new "OPSEC in the Blogosphere," document, which lists and ranks "Categories of Threat." Under "traditional domestic threats" we find hackers and militia groups, while "non-traditional" threats include drug cartels, and -- yes -- the media. Just to put that into some perspective, the foreign "non-traditional threats" are listed as warlords, and Al Qaeda. In other words, the Army has figuratively and literally put the media in the same box as Al Qaeda, warlords, and drug cartels.

While snake oil salesmen like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh would surely rank the American press up there with Bin Laden and his homicidal ilk, for the Army to do so is shocking, displaying a deep ignorance on the part of at least some segments of the uniformed military over just what the media's role in a democracy is, while sending the unambiguous message to soldiers and DoD employees that reporters are to be treated as enemies.

Oh boy! Since we're almost kinda sorta like 'media', we're up with the Big Boys! Excuse me while I take off this heavy vest. All Iwant to blow is what's left of my nose...

The first Republican presidential debate of the season has now sputtered to an end at the Reagan Library here on the outskirts of L.A. and the scorecard is in.

The undisputed loser: George W. Bush.

The winner: All of the eight rival Democratic candidates.

In Spanish, it's called "continuismo." In English we just call it the same-old-same-old.

One final note: The format tonight played out even worse than it did in last week's Democratic debate. The barrage of disjointed questions and the 30 and 60 second limit on the answers erased all hint of narrative and comparative debate and sent the discourse into a kaleidoscopic, scattershot jumble. In the end, not a word was said about health care, education, access to college, social security or what to do about rising economic insecurity. But then again – it was probably better for these guys that this topics were left untouched.

Look, I know Reagan is the only president of the 20th century that Republicans really like. And I know that the debate was being held at the Reagan Library in California. But over the course of 90 minutes, the candidates specifically referenced the 40th president 20 times. If you count more oblique references (Gilmore thanked "the president in whose name this library is named"), the number climbs to 25. If you include references to Reagan by debate moderator Chris Matthews, well, we get pretty close to triple digits.

This just isn't healthy. If this was a drinking game, players would have been three sheets to the wind within the first half hour. Even Peggy Noonan, who is second to no one among Reagan worshipers, explained in her column today that enough is enough.

[T]he media's fixation with which Republican is the most like Reagan, and who is the next Reagan, and who parts his hair like Reagan, is absurd, and subtly undermining of Republicans, which is why they do it. Reagan was Reagan, a particular man at a particular point in history. What is to be desired now is a new greatness. Another way of saying this is that in 1960, John F. Kennedy wasn't trying to be the next FDR, and didn't feel forced to be. FDR was the great, looming president of Democratic Party history, and there hadn't been anyone as big or successful since 1945, but JFK thought it was good enough to be the best JFK. And the press wasn't always sitting around saying he was no FDR. Oddly enough, they didn't consider that an interesting theme.

They should stop it already, and Republicans should stop playing along.

They should stop, but it's not the media that's fixated on Reagan; it's the party. No one forced the candidates last night to repeat his name two dozen times.

Reagan wasn't much of a governor, and he wasn't much of a president. That the Soviet Union collapsed of its own weight on his watch is what makes him look good. He doesn't deserve the credit for it, but he gets it anyway.

I think the big reason for Reagan's popularity is that he was optimistic and smiled a lot. You'll never convince me it wasn't due to his Alzheimer's showing up just before his second term.

It doesn't hurt a B movie actor playing president to survive a gunshot wound either. It would be a different world today if Hinckley had used a .45 instead of a .22.

Criminal that Reagan was, however, he pales in comparison to Bush, which may be why he is invoked like a saint by the Repugs. It helps that he's dead.

These guys were so well behaved, Chris Matthews eventually had to put a piñata in front of them and hand them each a club: "Would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?" It was easily the most moronic question of the night - what, exactly, was the point of this inquiry other than to get some Democrat-bashing into the debate? - and it finally garnered some of the responses the base craves about those evil Dems.

They should stop it already, and Republicans should stop playing along. They should try instead a pleasant, "You know I don't think I'm Reagan, but I do think John Edwards may be Jimmy Carter, and I'm fairly certain Hillary is Walter Mondale."

Odd, no reference to Dan Quayle...

More later, maybe. It's quit snowing enough to take my dogs for a walk.

Did you see that Rethug debate lineup? It thought it was a 'Tight Asses of America' convention. I wonder if any of them have ever danced at least once in their lives; buncha pasty white mofos. And I don't know about you, but a dial tone has a better personality than any of them.

"Who doesn't believe in evolution?" What the fuck; is this 2007 or 1607? That the question was even asked of Presidential candidates in this day shows you the state of the union in the early 21st Century. The fact 3 of them raised their hands is even more unsettling. After the idiot we've had for the last 6 years, and the mess the rest of the Rethugs made of this country, 2008 can't come too soon.

Sorry I was scarce yesterday (though Gord was prolific), put in a 20 hour day, all told. Hopefully, today won't be as nuts and I'll be back in form this afternoon.

Update:

Digby quotes Olbermann and Fineman and, though Fineman's whole quote is just stupid (I think many Americans came away with the same opinion of the candidates as I did), he does make my point:

... Keith, if you look at that picture and took away all of the writing and all of the words, and just had the image, could the American people tell that those were Republicans? I think the answer is yes ...

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Queen Elizabeth II is visiting the U.S. in celebration of England dumping its religious whackjobs in Jamestown in 1607. Maybe she's checkin' to see if they're still here. They are.

I wonder if she's gonna come back in 2019 for the 400th anniversary of the first slaves imported there?

One thing I did notice is that she doesn't appear to have her own plane and flew in on British Airways. When I mentioned to Mrs. G that our pols should follow her example and fly commercial like the peasants, she said they should fly Jet Blue, that the world would be a lot better off if they were stuck in limbo forever on some runway in the Twilight Zone.

With the political currents of the Battle of Fallujah swirling, approving an air strike on a mosque was a challenging task. Still, a pair of AV-8B Harriers flew into the town to acquire the target. Their passes roared less than 100 feet from the ground, and the reverberations were so strong they detonated several IEDs that had not been discovered. After that, Soudan and other sergeants wryly requested Harrier fly-bys before they went into town on patrol.

Heh. Sort of the combat version of setting off car alarms with your motorcycle's straight pipes, but with a life-or-death payoff.

Upon their return to The World:

"What are you gonna do now, Dirty?" Perkins asked, expecting the clichéd banter about Disney World.

Dirty Steve wanted to take a trip to a different fantasyland. "I'm buying beer and getting strippers!"

That's my Marine Corps! Some things never change.

This book has several chapters about the Marines returning to bases in California, and their relationship problems (or not) and their sense of alienation from society (or not), and is well worth the read for this alone. Not too many books go into much detail about what happens when the shooting and tension are over, and this one does a good job of it.

This may appeal only to those of us of an age to remember all the brouhaha and bullshit in the wake of the assassination of President Kennedy, but I still think, and will until the day I die and probably beyond, that it's important. 22 November 1963 marks the day we all started to find out just how much our government lied to us and still does.

An article in Salon about a new book, "Brothers", which of course you can buy whilst reading:

The exclusive story of Robert F. Kennedy's secret search for the truth about John F. Kennedy's assassination. From the new book by Salon's founder and former editor in chief.

As family members and close friends gathered in the White House on the weekend after the assassination for the president's funeral, a raucous mood of Irish mourning gripped the executive mansion. But Bobby didn't participate in the family's doleful antics. Coiled and sleepless throughout the weekend, he brooded alone about his brother's murder. According to an account by Peter Lawford, the actor and Kennedy in-law who was there that weekend, Bobby told family members that JFK had been killed by a powerful plot that grew out of one of the government's secret anti-Castro operations. There was nothing they could do at that point, Bobby added, since they were facing a formidable enemy and they no longer controlled the government. Justice would have to wait until the Kennedys could regain the White House -- this would become RFK's mantra in the years after Dallas, whenever associates urged him to speak out about the mysterious crime.

(Mankiewicz later told Bobby that his research led him to conclude it was probably a plot involving the Mafia, Cuban exiles and rogue CIA agents.)

Robert Kennedy did not live long enough to solve his brother's assassination. But nearly 40 years after his own murder, a growing body of evidence suggests that Kennedy was on the right trail before he too was cut down. Despite his verbal contortions in public, Bobby Kennedy always knew that the truth about Dallas mattered. It still does.

I have vowed to live long enough to find out what really happened. The sealed archives will be opened when I'm 93, if anyone remembers to do it, so by the time I'm 120 or so...

Update:

Mrs. G has an interest in this subject that makes my obsession with it look like a case of mild curiosity, so I ordered the book for her upcoming birthday. Saved ten bucks over retail. I love these internets!

Update II:

Mrs. G told me that she had read the article at Salon and was going to get the book. I hung my head and told her not to. Try and surprise her, will I?

In the end, President Bush's failure to heed the will of the people isn't so much an act of principle, but rather an outburst of sheer peevishness. With Democrats in control of Congress, he's no longer getting a blank check to fund his military adventures. He finds this frustrating, so he's stamping his foot, covering his ears, and taking his party down with him.

All this is exactly what one would expect in the way of a political farewell gesture from a spoiled rich kid who never grew up. Future generations of historians will note George W. Bush made a mess of every real job he ever had - and, unfortunately for America, the presidency of the United States proved to be no exception.

He's just gonna take his football and go home and cry, and leave the rest of us to clean up after the mess he's made. His whole life has prepared him for failure, and he's succeeded at it as bigtime as he ever could have. The biggest failure in American history will definitely get him in the record book. Not the way he wants, but the way he deserves.

"Without a war funding bill, the military has to take money from some other account or training program so the troops in combat have what they need. Without a war funding bill, the Armed Forces will have to consider cutting back on buying new equipment or repairing existing equipment. Without a war funding bill, we add to the uncertainty felt by our military families. Our troops and their families deserve better -- and their elected leaders can do better."

Roughly six-in-ten people in the Pew sample (59 percent) said they want their member of Congress to back an Iraq funding bill that includes a timeline for American troops to begin withdrawing. Of that 59 percent, more than half (54 percent) said Democrats should "insist" on a timeline's inclusion in the legislation while 42 percent backed the party working with Republicans and the Bush Administration on a solution.

Over at The Practical Press, the votes have been tallied for The Practical Press Awards 2006 and there have been a few ties in some categories. Kenneth is holding a runoff and voting will be over on Sunday night.

The Mrs is in Chicago (why I was scarce this morning, had to kick her out at 30 mph drop her at the airport) so I'll be around later.

When rocker John Mellencamp performed for the recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday night, a couple of things were missing. He squelched his typically blistering rhetoric against the war in Iraq. Also MIA, as it turned out, was folkie and antiwar activist Joan Baez, who says she was disinvited from the event by Army officials.

"One of my more cynical friends said, 'They let the rats in, why not you?' " Baez said, laughing, referring to a recent exposé of living conditions at Walter Reed.

After the concert, Baez said, Mellencamp left her a message to say, "I hope you're not mad at me." Her response: " 'Of course not. It's an honor to be turned down by the Army.' . . . But I would have been happier getting in . . . I thought times had changed enough."

So what exactly happened?

The answer -- since Walter Reed's officials aren't talking -- is blowin' in the wind. (Sorry, we couldn't resist.)

Recent Coulter no-shows at high-profile events and the scrubbing of several of her recent appearances from the video collections of conservative events seems to suggest the Republican superstar could finally be in her "last throes."

So has Ann Coulter reached her tipping point? Will she become a pariah as did David Duke? Or will conservatives pretend to have principles while continuing to promote Coulter as their conservative icon?

She's just one more wingnut loudmouth, but it's a big mouth. Go read. It'll warm the cockles of your heart.

There should be a course on government called "The Ultimate Staff Guy." A morality saga about how much harm you can do as a go-along, get-along guy, spending so much time trying not to alienate the big cheese so he doesn't can you that you miss the moment where you have to can him or lose your soul.

If Colin Powell and George Tenet had walked out of the administration in February 2003 instead of working together on that tainted U.N. speech making the bogus case for war, they might have turned everything around. They might have saved the lives and limbs of all those brave U.S. kids and innocent Iraqis, not to mention our world standing and national security.

"The irony of the whole situation is, is he was bluffing," Slam said of Saddam on "Larry King Live" on Monday night, adding, "And he didn't know we weren't." Mr. He-Man Tenet didn't understand the basics of poker, much less Arab culture. It never occurred to him that Saddam might feign strength to flex muscles at his foes in the Middle East? Slam couldn't take some of that $40 billion we spend on intelligence annually and get a cultural profile of the dictator before we invaded?

Thus endeth the lesson in our class on "The Ultimate Staff Guy." If you have something deadly important to say, say it when it matters, or just shut up and slink off.

The gist of this is being said in pretty much the same way by a plethora of political commentators. This is good, but it's too late for 3400 US servicemen and hundreds of thousands of others. Maybe next time.

The air is heavy, dusty and the sun usually does not shine through the thick haze - a Hollywood-like special effect. The Baghdad gulag has the feel of an eerie version of post-apocalyptic Los Angeles - dusty and dead instead of glitzy palm trees, living-dead characters covered by a thick layer of sand and soot. The urban tissue is of a dissected cadaver - filthy, exposed parts separated from one another, fear and loathing impressed on blood, sweat, tears and viscera.

This is the real face of Bush's surgeland.

The UN has done next to nothing to help these millions of exiled Iraqis - not to mention the wealthy Arab emirates, or the Wahhabi millionaires in Saudi Arabia. After the total implosion of social life, Iraq has reverted to pre-modernity. Baghdad, once the pride of Islam, has reverted to the status of the saddest, most desperate of global capitals. No wonder the motto - even from secular, well-educated Shi'ites - is ubiquitous: "Iraq is finished."

So no one can say that half a trillion dollars - so far - courtesy of US taxpayers, has not served a clear "creative destruction" purpose. And this is only the hors d'oeuvres. The Baghdad gulag is yet to reach full fruition. Iraq will be finished one mini-Green Zone at a time.

Reminds me of a story: during WWII, there was a shortage of toilet paper in England (damn those U-boats!) and it got so bad at one point that a directive was issued to USAAF pilots that they were to limit their tissue usage to three sheets per man per 'occurence'. This prompted one officer to inquire of the enlisted English orderly who had the onerous duty of issuing the TP ration, "How in hell am I supposed to wipe with only three sheets?"

To which the orderly replied, "One up, one down, one polish, sir."

By the way, there is a way to only use one sheet. If anybody doesn't know it I will gladly describe it upon request. Warning: not for the faint of heart or overly fastidious.

I won't link to the wingnut blathering that prompted this, but if you really want to see it you can find it at Kevin Drum's piece:

Quote of the day, from Thomas Sowell:

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can't help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.

Now that's a comforting, conservative thought, isn't it? I wonder what Buckley thinks of NRO publishing stuff like this?

(And in case you're wondering, there's no further context. That's the whole quote. It's one bullet point in a long series of dyspeptic observations about how liberals have ruined the country.)

I guess it's all in how you look at it: I think a military coup would be a last resort to save the country from them. They think it would be a last resort to save it from us. We're right and they're wrong, of course.

Here's a few 'comments':

Scratch a conservative, wound a fascist....2 important points:

1) Hitler did not burn the Reichstag but used it as an excuse for reactionary overreach. Bush did not bomb on 9/11, but used it as an excuse for reactionary and fascist overreach. 9/11 WAS Bush's Reichstag fire.

2) Hitler obtained power by the most desperately small margin. Soon thereafter, he had outlawed all other parties, and was on his way to dictatorship. Bush obtained power by the most desperately small margin in the 20th century. Soon thereafter, he and Rove TRIED to set up a permanent Repukeliscum majority, but have been foiled I think.

The Bush-Hitler analogies are much closer than I had remembered.

"I'm tired off those comparisons between Hitler and George W. Bush! Hitler was a highly decorated combat veteran who won office by majority vote!" - Jon Stewart

Haven't conservatives always hated democracy?

People sometimes vote to change things in a democracy.

Should I stock up on candy and flowers to greet my liberators with?

Shorter Thomas Sowell: "Kids these days, with their crazy clothes and loud music! And get off my lawn!"

As George Carlin said: "they identify with your anger then tell you who to blame for it".

Actually, I didn't even know the author of the remark was black until you told me. Batshit is colorblind, pal, and Sowell is batshit.

The now-vetoed, multi-billion-dollar Iraq spending bill, which contained withdrawal timelines demanded by Congressional Democrats, "substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgments of our military commanders," according to Bush. Many of us must have missed the memo explaining how Bush, Cheney, and the rest of this administration aren't politicians anymore. We also missed the memo explaining how it was the "judgments of our military commanders" that sunk us into this mess to begin with.

Speaking of military judgments, here are two worth considering; both came after Bush deployed the veto pen on Tuesday.

Major General John Batiste, USA, Ret.: "The President vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat worldwide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration."

Major General Paul Eaton, USA, Ret: "This administration and the previously Republican-controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America's Armed Forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and Marine Corps by their failure to pass a necessary funding language. This time, the president of the United States is holding our soldiers hostage to his ego (my em). More than ever apparent, only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war - alone, without their president's support."

When a Major General of the United States Army publicly declares that "the president of the United States is holding our soldiers hostage to his ego," matters have gone badly awry.

I just heard the bastard give his little speech about it. He said he would veto the bill, and for once he kept his word. Seems like he only does what he says he will do when it's for his gain and to everybody else's detriment.

He's like a little fuckin' brat whose parents just told him he could have ice cream if he cleaned up his room, then trashes the room even more because he wants the ice cream without restrictions.

Just like that brat, the Brat-in-Chief should get a trip to the woodshed.

So Henry Waxman is going to be delving more deeply into the uranium-from-Niger crap. But I don't think anyone knows anything at all about these other forgeries, described in George Tenet's new book, p. 356:

The Iraq-al-Qa'ida controversy continued, even after Saddam was long gone from power. Once U.S. forces reached Baghdad, they discovered - stacked where they could easily find them - purported Iraqi intelligence services documents that showed much tighter links between Saddam and Zarqawi and Saddam and al-Qa'ida. CIA analysts worked with the U.S. Secret Service to have the paper and ink checked and tried to verify the names and information in the documents. Time and again, documents that were supposedly produced in the early 1990s turned out to be forgeries. CIA officers interviewed Iraqi intelligence officers in Baghdad who also discounted the authenticity of the documents. It was obvious that someone was trying to mislead us. But these raw, unevaluated documents that painted a more nefarious picture of Iraq and al-Qa'ida continued to show up in the hands of senior administration officials without having gone through normal intelligence channels.

It might be nice if someone, you know, looked into this.

In my opinion, this leads right to The Dick. I hope Hammerin' Hank can find a Cheney operative who'll roll over on him.

Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan's influence on illegal immigrants.

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan's minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants "hate American people" and "are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won't do."

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to "destroy Christian America" and replace it with "a godless new world order -- and that is not extremism, that is fact," Larsen said.

At the end of his speech, Larsen began to cry, saying illegal immigrants were trying to bring about the destruction of the U.S. "by self invasion."

Whatever you think about illegal immigrants, 20 million of 'em ain't bringin' down this country nearly as fast as Bush and the Repuglicants. I think the Repugs are jealous of the competition!

Larsen was allowed to finish the debate with a one-minute speech.

"If the Democrats take over the country, we will be dead, and we will have abortion and partial-birth abortion and the Republican Party will go into extinction," he said. "Nancy Pelosi and the ACLU would oppose this (resolution)."

Gee, he says 'extinct Repuglicants' like it's a bad thing!

When Wright said "the economic benefit (of illegal immigration) outweighs the downside" he was jeered. He warned that the Republican Party of California had "killed themselves" by taking a hostile stance against illegal aliens.

Well, they're not really dead, just sorta in a coma, but 'killing themselves' would be the right thing to do.

A member of the audience moved that the convention suspend its rules to allow the "objectionable part" of Larsen's resolution to be stricken, retaining only the final paragraphs of the resolution, which condemn illegal immigration. Eventually party officials counted all delegates in attendance, only to discover that, with 299, they were about 30 short of a quorum and could take no action.

I think '30 short of a quorum' is my new phrase for 'mentally defective', sorta like 'a taco short of a combination plate'. I guess I have to thank Repugs for something after all.

One of 'em got off a funny, though:

Congressman Chris Cannon and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff both received a standing ovation from some members of the audience. Cannon said Democrats have just as many corrupt party members as the Republicans but the media does not report Democratic ethics violations.

Why should 'the media' bother? The Repugs do a hundred times the ethics violations of the Dems, and they're so stupid and blatant about it that they're gettin' easier for reporters to catch. 'Catch', shit! Pretty hard for reporters to ignore something that slaps 'em in the face!

As one of our commenters once said, there are two kinds of Repuglicants, the 'con men' and the 'marks'. Guess which these Utah Repugs are.

Please go read the rest of this article if you have a few minutes, if only to marvel at the copywriter who could put this stuff down on paper with a straight face.

Sparked by an insurgency among delegates, the California Democratic Party has taken an historic step forward on the issue of impeachment. In a resolution affirmed by the full state party convention Sunday, the Democrats called on the U.S. Congress to use its subpoena power to investigate misdeeds of President Bush and Vice President Cheney – and to hold the Administration accountable "with appropriate remedies and punishment, including impeachment." The delegate insurgency was coordinated by Progressive Democrats of America and its allies.

This story flat-out scares me more than any other this year; no bees means no pollination, no pollination means a lot of people are going to be very, very hungry.

From the New York Times:"More than a quarter of the country's 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost - tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.

...Honeybees are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts. The number of bee colonies has been declining since the 1940s, even as the crops that rely on them, such as California almonds, have grown. In October, at about the time that beekeepers were experiencing huge bee losses, a study by the National Academy of Sciences questioned whether American agriculture was relying too heavily on one type of pollinator, the honeybee."

Monday, April 30, 2007

For all the talk about timetables and benchmarks, one might think that the United States will end the military occupation of Iraq within the lifetimes of the readers of this opinion editorial. Think again.

There is to be no withdrawal from Iraq, just as there has been no withdrawal from hundreds of places around the world that are outposts of the American empire. As UC San Diego professor emeritus Chalmers Johnson put it, "One of the reasons we had no exit plan from Iraq is that we didn't intend to leave."

... In the past, this tremendous access bred a certain amount of protectiveness among some journalists — you don’t want to play “gotcha” with someone who gives all the time. The dynamic on this campaign is slightly different, and the coverage — including mine — shows it. Those new to covering him want to prove they won’t fall for the old guy’s charm. Those who covered him in 2000 want to prove they never did. Congratulations, blogosphere! ...

Historic Date: Toyota Passes GM in Sales for 1st TimeGM president calls it "a date which will live in infamy."

Eco-Friendly Gas Station Opens in LASells Oxymoron brand gas.

Vocabulary Builders

voter fraud n. the act of trying to register to vote as a Democrat, as in "Alberto: the President wants me to tell you we think several Attorneys General in swing states are not pursuing aggressively enough and should be fired, so get on it - Karl"

There is so much crap flyin' around about Tenet's revelations and proof(?) of stuff we already knew that it's hard to pick good shit to post, but I like the heck out of this one at BuzzFlash:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Face The Nation dismissed accusations made by former CIA Director George Tenet about the Bush administration's early decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan: "We can't tolerate any present or past member of the administration, even the head of the CIA, telling the truth. That is a violation of the terms of employment in the Bush Administration." (Okay, BuzzFlash made the quotation up.)

Made it up? More like read her mind! Or her e-mails...

The sorta funny part about this is that Tenet ostensibly wrote his book to try and get himself off the hook, but I think it's just diggin' him into a deeper hole, of the "Oh fucking swell, now you tell us, where were you when it coulda done some good" variety.

Then there's the $4 million advance and the $50K per speaking engagement, but of course I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Heh. I think his whole book tour should be under oath.

But methinks Glenn is a bit too optimistic. You can never underestimate the amount of stupid folks running around in this country and in the Democratic Party. Unless the right wing noise machine is dismantled, we'll get another Bush and another 109th Congress somewhere down the line.

After watching 60 Minutes last night (first in a long time), a few thoughts came to mind.

1. George Tenet is just like Colin Powell, spineless. He knew right from wrong in 2002 just as well as he does now. There is no excuse for him not resigning as soon as he figured out what Bush/Cheney were up to.

2. He's still kissing the Chimp's ass, thanks to the Medal of Freedom Bush gave him. He should give the medal back (he shouldn't have accepted it in the first place). Everyone knows it was a payoff to shut him up. If he didn't understand he'd end up being a scapegoat if shit went awry, he had no business being Director of Central Intelligence.

3. He knew al-Qaeda would attack before September 11th and did nothing. Saying (paraphrasing) "I passed this off to Condi" is no excuse, not a mitigating factor. He should have gone directly to the American people, Congress at the very least. The crap he spewed about not being able to share info with FBI is horseshit. If an attack was that imminent, throw protocol (and the law) in the trash and scream it from the hilltops if those in charge won't listen and let the chips fall where they may. He'd be a hero now.

4. I write books (probably better than Tenet's). If I knew what Tenet knew, I wouldn't be waiting months, years, to bring the information to the American people and, more importantly, Congress. Profits be damned, he had an obligation to the people paying his salary, not to his own enrichment. I'm certain he has more than enough money.

5. He should also be facing a war crimes tribunal along with the Chimp, Cheney, and the rest. Through his inaction, he's just as culpable.

Update:

And an additional thought. It would have been nice if he stood up for his people as valiantly to the Neocon Cabal as he did for 60 Minutes. He allowed them to (paraphrasing) "look like a buncha idiots" for all these years until last night, until he could make a profit from it.

A whole lot has been written about melamine contamination of the pet food (and now, apparently, human food) supply the latest in today's New York Times, but I haven't seen the obvious stated anywhere and that is this - this is clearly a Homeland Security issue. If melamine, which is banned as a food additive, pet or human, in the U.S., has so easily slipped past the borders and found its way into the food supply, it seems that it would be incredibly easy to do this with some toxic additive or another. Just another way that the Bush administration is helping the terrorists. Food for thought.

"There are thousands of names, tens of thousands of phone numbers," Ross said. "And there are people there at the Pentagon, lobbyists, others at the White House, prominent lawyers — a long, long list." Ross added that the women who worked for the service, potentially as prostitutes, "include university professors, legal secretaries, scientists, military officers."

...

I think it's time to dismantle the American Republican Party once and for all. As the scandals roll in, week after week, one can only conclude that it is more a criminal organization than a political party.

Update:

Res responds to those who believe (rightfully) that a buncha Dems are gonna get snagged in 'Madam-gate':

...

Agreed, but one party hasn't spent the last six years trumpeting its lock on "family values."

Gordon

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"... That's US here at the Brain! Sittin' all alone out in the cold, thanklessly freezin' our beboops off, lookin' for a chance to lob a few at the enemy and praying for a secondary explosion, wonderin' if it's all worth it or if it will make any difference in the scheme of things ..." - Gordon